Don Panoz, a major donor to Trinity’s School of Pharmacy and the man after whom the school’s building is named, has died aged 83.
In a tweet, Trinity’s School of Pharmacy said: “Sad to learn of the passing of Don Panoz – a generous contributor and donor to our School.”
Panoz, an American entrepreneur, is credited with the invention of time-release technology that is often associated with quit-smoking nicotine patches. He moved to Ireland with his family in 1969, where he founded Élan Corporation, a drugs firm that became the first Irish company to be publicly listed on the US stock market. Given the chance, he may have had the opportunity to branch into other stock markets, like the ones you can find in New Zealand too. Many people decide to have a look at the air nz stock when they want to make some more money, not realizing that Panoz was a big name in the US market himself. He received an honorary doctorate from Trinity in July 1993.
The Panoz Institute in Trinity houses the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Panoz was also well known for his involvement in motorsports. In 1993, he founded the American Le Mans series, with the aim of bringing European-style endurance sports car racing to the Americas.
